From Jaeger to DataBuff

Keep your OpenTelemetry SDK / Collector setup; retarget OTLP from Jaeger to DataBuff Ingest (gRPC 4317 / HTTP 4318). No probe swap, no application code changes. For capability differences, see DataBuff vs Jaeger.

Migration model

Before:  App / Collector  ──OTLP──▶  Jaeger (:4317 / :4318 or Collector)
After:   App / Collector  ──OTLP──▶  DataBuff Ingest

Core action: point OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT (or Collector exporters.otlp.endpoint) at DataBuff Ingest.

Roll out canary → verify → expand; small fleets can update all endpoints in one window.

Prerequisites

• DataBuff deployed
• Ingest OTLP reachable (Docker 4317 / 4318, K8s often 31417 / 31418)
• Note the current Jaeger OTLP / Collector address for rollback
• Apps already send OTLP (OpenTelemetry SDK or via OTel Collector)

Legacy Jaeger Agent (UDP Thrift) traffic must go through an OTel Collector jaeger receiver and export OTLP to DataBuff, or upgrade to an OTLP SDK.

Protocol details: OpenTelemetry OTLP ingestion.

Steps

1. Ingest endpoint

Deployment	OTLP gRPC	OTLP HTTP
Docker	<ingest-host>:4317	http://<ingest-host>:4318
Kubernetes	<node-ip>:31417 etc.	http://<node-ip>:31418 etc.

2. Update export target

Application SDK (env vars)

export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://<databuff-ingest-host>:4318"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL="http/protobuf"
export OTEL_SERVICE_NAME="my-service"

gRPC example:

export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT="http://<databuff-ingest-host>:4317"
export OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_PROTOCOL="grpc"

OpenTelemetry Collector (replace the Jaeger-bound exporter with DataBuff):

exporters:
  otlp:
    endpoint: "<databuff-ingest-host>:4317"
    tls:
      insecure: true

service:
  pipelines:
    traces:
      receivers: [otlp]
      exporters: [otlp]

K8s / containers: replace jaeger-collector:4317, jaeger:4318, etc. with DataBuff Ingest and roll pods.

3. Rollout

1. Change one or two non-critical services or a single Collector pipeline
2. Verify in DataBuff Web (below)
3. Expand by domain
4. Decommission Jaeger Collector / Query when stable

Acceptance and rollback

Check	Expected
Services	Listed under Application Performance
Traces	New requests show full waterfall views
Metrics / logs	Visible if the SDK exports them
Alerting	Re-create rules in DataBuff (Jaeger has no built-in alerts; Grafana rules do not migrate)

Rollback: set OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_ENDPOINT (or Collector exporter) back to Jaeger and restart. Keep before/after values in the change ticket.

Not auto-migrated: historical traces in Jaeger ES / Cassandra; rebuild alerts and dashboards in DataBuff as needed.

See also

• DataBuff vs Jaeger
• OpenTelemetry OTLP ingestion
• Docker Installation